Residence Life Searching Twice as Many Rooms
October 27, 2008 by Ryan J. Reilly
By Ryan J. Reilly and John Schmidt
The University has searched twice as many dorm rooms then they had at this point in prior years, with about half resulting in the discovery of drugs, said Jonathan Sawyer, associate vice president for Student Life and Dean of Students.
Sawyer did not have the exact number of rooms that have been searched, but said it has doubled from this point last year. The student handbook says while student rooms are considered private, representatives may enter after knocking in a number of circumstances, including to “investigate alleged violations of federal, District of Columbia or University policies, rules or regulations.”
“We would search a room when there was a substantial allegation,” said Sawyer. “I want to stress that it is not a random search. If we searched a room then there was something that led us to believe that there was something that would violate our policies and the law.”
Sawyer said the tips that lead to room searches may come from students, parents or staff who may overhear conversations. In theory, the tips that result in room searches could be anonymous, but Sawyer said he would want to talk to the person to question the information.
“We err on the side of caution and struggle more with that,” said Sawyer. “There have been occasions when [we] get anonymous things, but we would want to substantiate that.” At the same time, if the threat is serious enough, especially if it relates to weapons, then that would require immediate action.
Violations for alcohol and drug use have been on the minds of University administration since the beginning of the academic year. Rev. David M. O’Connell, president of the University, sent an email to all undergraduate students in September, saying he was “slightly alarmed” by the number of alcohol incidents that had already occurred on-campus this year.
Violations have been so rampant in Magner Hall that the area coordinator called a meeting for the entire building to address the issue. Two students, who are residents of Magner Hall, heard a knock on their door on Monday, September 29. At the time, both residents said they were working on their homework. Before they could open the door, two area coordinators accompanied by three Department of Public Safety officers began to key into their room.
Joyce Milling, the area coordinator for Centennial Village, told sophomores J.D. Moseley and Adam Sadowski Residence Life received a tip indicating they had marijuana in the room. She would not tell the roommates the source of the information because such information is confidential. She declined to discuss the specifics of any judicial case, Millings said in an e-mail.
Moseley said the area coordinators and the DPS officers were in the room for 90 minutes. The area coordinators conducted the search while the DPS officers took down their information. When they did not find any drugs, they “grilled” the residents about where the drugs were, according to Moseley.
“She said ‘This would be a lot easier if you told us where the drugs were’,” said Moseley. Amy Petrovich, North Neighboorhood II area coordinator, who was also at the room search, told the students she could see why somebody would think the roommates had drugs in their rooms because of two posters in their room – one of Bob Marley and one that says “Keep of the Grass,” according to Moseley. Petrovich did not return e-mails requesting comment.
The search did turn up a bottle of champagne and three cans of beer. Moseley said that he felt it was unfair that the area coordinators would count the beers against them. “It felt like they were just trying to pin those three beers on us as much as they could,” said Moseley. Both sophomores are under 21.
“We have never had drugs in the room and we have not been associated with that aspect at all during out time here at Catholic,” said Mosley. “I honestly felt violated.”
The sophomores feel the University will hold the suspicion of drug use against them in the future.
At the end of the search, Milling asked Moseley and Sadowski to pass on information about drugs if they knew anything. Moseley and Sadowski said they have no problems with helping out the administration.
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